Islamic Jihad Union

Islamic Jihad Union (IJU)
Flag of the Islamic Jihad Union in Uzbekistan
Leaders	Najmiddin Jalolov  † Abu Omar al-Turkistani †[1] Akhtar Mansour † Ilimbek Mamatov
Dates of operation	2002–present
Split from	Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
Allegiance	Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (since 2015)
Headquarters	North Waziristan
Ideology	Sunni Islamism Qutbism Salafi jihadism Wahabism Pan-Islamism
Size	200-250 in Afghanistan (2023)[2]
Allies	Taliban al-Qaeda Turkistan Islamic Party Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (formally multiple times before alliance with ISIL in 2015)[3][4] Caucasus Emirate Tahrir al-Sham
Opponents	Islamic Republic of Afghanistan  Uzbekistan ISAF  Germany  United States  Russia  India  Qatar  Iran  Poland  Syria  Tajikistan  Pakistan  China[5]
Battles and wars	Global War on Terrorism War in Afghanistan Taliban insurgency War in North-West Pakistan Operation Zarb-e-Azb

The Islamic Jihad Union (IJU; Arabic: اتحاد الجهاد الإسلامي, romanized: Ittiḥad al-Jihad al-Islāmī) is a militant Islamist organization founded in 2002 as a splinter group of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Headquartered in North Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, the group has been affiliated with both Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Under its original name Islamic Jihad Group (IJG; Arabic: جماعة الجهاد الاسلامي, romanized: Jama'at al-Jihad al-Islāmī), the group conducted several attacks in Uzbekistan. In 2007, a large-scale bomb plot in Germany, known as the "Sauerland terror cell", was discovered by German security authorities.^[6] In the following years, the group focused on fighting Pakistani forces in the tribal areas, and NATO and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.^[7]

Recruits are mainly Turks both from Turkey and the Turkish communities in Western Europe, but also European converts to Islam, particularly in German-speaking countries.^[8]